Those Nights
by August08
Summary: One-shot. When a nightly run turns into an ambush, Don is seriously injured. While drifting in and out of unconsciousness, he flashes back to a promise Raph made to him when they were kids. A promise to always be there to protect him.


**A/N**: This story was inspired by _Those Nights _by Skillet. This is the third in my songfic series. I have yet to find one that suits Leo, but I'm still looking. Anyway, please read and review and I hope you enjoy the story.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any characters relating to the Turtles or the song lyrics.

Normal font is from Donny's POV, italics are flashbacks and are third person.

* * *

I was vaguely aware of the sounds of battle surrounding me. However, I couldn't remember who was fighting or how the fight started. All I knew was that I was in pain. Terrible, excruciating pain. The origin of the pain eluded my muddled brain and I tried to make sense of everything around me. I heard a grunt and instantly knew that Raph was one of the fighters. If Raph was fighting, that meant that so were the Foot. I tried to pry my heavy eyes open, but that required effort and I had none to spare. So, I had to settle for concentrating on my breathing, which sent waves of white-hot pain through my body every time I took a breath.

The fighting stopped and I felt a presence beside me. I lifted my head and finally managed to open my eyes. I looked up into the worried amber orbs that were my older brother's eyes. He was breathing heavily and his dark, emerald green skin was stained with red. He touched my left shoulder and I cried out in pain, making him wince.

"Sorry, Donny," Raph apologized. "I am such an idiot."

I wanted to scold him, but my tongue was too big for my mouth. He untied his mask, rolled it into a ball and pressed it over my shoulder. I clenched my teeth against the pain. What the shell happened to me? I felt Raph's fingers slide under my mask and then pull it off. He used his teeth to untie the knot and then used the cloth as a temporary bandage. I felt oddly comforted as his fingers gently touched my throbbing shoulder. My eyes slid closed and darkness consumed me.

* * *

_A six-year-old Donatello shot awake after a horrific nightmare. His skin was covered in a cold sweat and he was breathing heavily. He couldn't remember what the nightmare was about, but it had scared him greatly. He carefully shifted to his side and leaned over the edge of the bunk bed. He could hear Raphael's snoring coming from below him on the bottom bunk._

_"Raphie," he whispered. "Raphie."_

_Only snores answered him. Donatello slipped out of bed and crept down the ladder. Raphael woke up when the bed moved. He felt someone crawl under the blankets and press up against his shell. At first he thought it was Michelangelo, but a timid whimper told him that it was Donatello._

_"Donny?" he whispered._

_"Sorry if I woke you up."_

_Raphael yawned. "What do ya want?" he asked quietly._

_There was silence for a couple of seconds. "I had a nightmare," came the embarrassed reply._

_A soft smile touched Raphael's lips and he was glad that it was dark so his brother couldn't see it. However, he didn't want Donatello thinking that he was a softie, so he spoke in his usual rough tone._

_"Then, go bother Leo," he scowled, pretending to be annoyed._

_He felt Donatello turn around as if looking in the direction of Leonardo's bed. But, the second youngest just pressed closer to his older brother._

_"But, he's on the other side of the room," he whispered._

That must have been one heck of a nightmare,_ Raphael thought. But, out loud he said, "Fine. Just don't hog all the blankets and don't ya dare drool."_

_"Mikey's the only one who does that," Donatello pointed out._

_With the presence of his big brother beside him, Donatello closed his eyes and slipped into a peaceful, dreamless sleep._

* * *

"Open your eyes, Donny."

I reluctantly did as I was told. Raph was still kneeling in front of me, his hands still pressed against my shoulder. How long had I been asleep? I closed my eyes, only to have Raph tap my cheek.

"I need to see your eyes, Don," he said.

What was that tone in his voice? I tried to force my sluggish brain to work. My head tilted forward and Raph hit under my chin.

"Show me your eyes."

Worry. Panic. Fear. I almost laughed. Raph didn't panic and he certainly wasn't scared. He should have been given the nickname Fearless instead of Leo. Raph hit me again, this time a bit harder.

"C'mon, genius, keep your eyes open," he demanded.

"Sorry," I managed to mumble.

I looked down at his hands. His once brilliant emerald skin was now stained with crimson. My eyes drifted to the scene behind him. Bodies, either dead or unconscious, I couldn't tell, lay scattered across the rooftop. Raph turned around so that his back was facing me. He took my arms and gently put them around his neck. He then leaned forward and hooked his arms behind my knees. He stood up and took off at a run towards the lair.

"How are ya doin' back there, Don?" Raph asked after a few minutes of running.

"M'tired," I muttered. "Sleep."

Raph jolted me. "Don't ya dare," he growled.

I frowned. He really _was_ scared. What was he scared of? Then, I remembered my shoulder.

"Raphie," I said, and I could've sworn I saw him smile. "What happened?"

"Ya took a bullet," Raph answered. His smile vanished and his jaw grew tight as he clenched his teeth. "I'm such an idiot. I should've been payin' more attention."

It was my turn to smile. "You sound like Leo," I commented, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, bro," Raph whispered in a voice that was slowly fading. "I'm sorry for not protectin' ya like I promised."

* * *

_"Raphie!" Donatello called. He ran through the sewer tunnels as fast as his ten-year-old legs could carry him. "Raphie, where are you?"_

_Leonardo and Raphael had had their first major fight and when Splinter tried to calm his sons down, Raphael ran off into the sewers. Splinter had told his remaining sons to stay in the lair, but Donatello slipped out anyway. He wasn't going to leave his brother all alone._

_After what seemed like hours of running, Donatello came to a drainage junction. Large pipes stretched across between the walls. And on one of the very top pipes sat Raphael. Donatello caught his breath as he looked up at his brother._

_"Raph!" he called up._

_"Go away," Raphael yelled back._

_"Everyone's looking for you."_

_"I don't care."_

_Donatello began climbing up the pipes towards his sibling. "It wasn't that bad, Raph."_

_Raphael scoffed. "Yeah, right. Were you even payin' attention?"_

_"Of course I was paying attention," Donatello answered, climbing higher and higher. "But, Master Splinter stopped it before it got too bad."_

_There was silence for a few minutes before Raphael spoke again._

_"Do you ever feel like the odd one out?" he suddenly asked._

_Donatello stopped his climbing and frowned. "Come again?"_

_"How many people do you know who can take apart the TV and put it back together, better than what it was before?"_

_"A lot of people."_

_Raphael looked over his shoulder at his brother. "At the age of two?" he asked._

_Donatello didn't answer for a while. Finally, he did. "I guess we're all kinda the odd one out," he said. "Leo's more responsible than you, me and Mikey. Mikey's more hyper and happy-go-lucky than you, me and Leo. As you all keep saying I'm more techno-savvy than you, Leo and Mikey, and you're more hot-tempered than me, Mikey and Leo. We're not all the same, Raphie. It would be really boring if we were."_

_He started to stand up, but his foot slipped and he tumbled off the pipe. Raphael shot around as he watched his brother fall. He dove off the pipe he was sitting on and tried to catch his sibling, but he was a couple of seconds too late. Donatello crashed through the pipes and disappeared underwater. Raphael scurried down the pipes and plunged into the water. He remembered Leonardo explaining to Splinter why he and Donatello had come home late one evening. They had been out testing Donatello's new remote control car and Donatello had fallen into the water trying to get it after it fell off the walkway. His leg had gotten stuck and he had nearly drowned._

_Raphael swam through the murky water and finally found his brother. Once again, his leg was trapped, but unlike the first time, it was twisted in a weird position. Raphael freed his brother and then pulled him to the surface. Donatello began to cough._

_"You still with me, Donny?" Raphael asked as he pulled himself and his brother on to solid ground._

_"I think my leg's broken," Donatello moaned._

_Raphael looked around and picked up two small pieces of wood. He put them on either side of Donatello's leg and instructed him to hold them in place. The older of the two then took off his mask and wrapped it around the wood and his brother's leg, making a makeshift splint._

_"I'm sorry, Donny."_

_"It'll heal."_

_"I should've been quicker," Raphael said._

_Donatello couldn't help but smile. He sounded like Leonardo._

_"I won't let you get hurt like this again. No matter what, I'll always be there to protect you," Raphael promised. "No matter what."_

* * *

The darkness gave way to pain as I slowly drifted back into consciousness. I was lying on one of the cots in the infirmary. The room was dark and I could hardly see. The only light that tried to penetrate the darkness came from one of my old computers in the corner. The light illuminated a tray on a nearby table. Raph's blood soaked mask lay on top of my purple one. At least, I think it was still purple. There was so much blood I couldn't tell.

The pressure on my left shoulder told me that someone had operated, taken out the bullet and had properly wrapped up the wound. I was hooked up to two IVs. One was probably pain medication and one was for a blood transfusion. Just then, the door opened and someone walked in.

"Donny? You awake?"

"Leo?" I whispered in a hoarse voice.

Leo walked over and sat down in a chair near the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked in soft voice.

"Woozy," I answered. "How long have I been out?"

"A few hours," Leo told me. "You gave us quite a scare. At one point you stopped breathing and we thought we had lost you."

I took a deep breath. It suddenly felt good to breathe. It reminded me that I was still alive, that I was still there to help ensure the safety of my family. My eyes went back to the two masks.

"I don't know who's in worse condition, right now. You or Raph," Leo spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Raph came stumbling in here with you on his back and the two of you covered in blood. He was talking incoherently and refused to let you go. Me and Mikey finally managed to get him to let you go so we could operate. He was in a mess, in more ways than one. And it didn't help matters when you stopped breathing." Leo's gaze turned to the door, his eyes sad. "He kept saying that he killed you."

My heart skipped a beat. Raph thought he killed me? How could he think that when he was the one who dragged me back home? He wasn't the one who shot me. I looked up at the bag that held the crimson life source.

"Whose blood am I taking?" I asked.

"Who do you think?" Leo asked back.

Of course. Why did I even ask? I was the one who did the procedure to find out whose blood was compatible with who just in case something like this ever happened. Ironically, my blood and Raph's blood were the same, so it was only natural that Raph would give it to me.

"How's Raph now?" I whispered.

"He's calmed down a bit. Though, he hasn't said much." Leo turned to look at me. "I think it best if you waited a couple of days before talking to him."

I nodded in agreement. "Alright."

Leo smiled, patted my hand and stood up. "It's good to have you back, Donny."

He turned to leave, but I grabbed his hand. "Is the radio still in here?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Can you turn it on? I'll go mad from the silence."

Leo smiled again and walked over to the radio. He turned it on, but kept the volume low. One of Mikey's CDs was still in the player and a song was just ending as Leo headed out of the room.

_Stay up late and we'd talk all night_  
_In a dark room lit by the TV light_  
_Through all the hard times in my life_  
_Those nights kept me alive_

_We'd listen to the radio play all night_  
_Didn't want to go home to another fight_  
_Through all the hard times in my life_  
_Those nights kept me alive_

I smiled. It was one of my favorite songs. I closed my eyes and listened to the rest of the song. It fit my relationship with Raph almost to the T. Raph was the brother I used to go to whenever I had a nightmare, believing that he could chase away any monster that dared to pick on his little brother. He was still like it. Only instead of chasing away monsters under the bed, he now chased away real monsters; the Shredder and his Foot ninjas, Agent Bishop and his flunkies. Monsters under the bed had given way to a new kind of monster, but Raph was always there, and he always would be.

The song ended and another one started. I looked up at the IVs again. The transfusion was almost done, thankfully. I expertly unhooked the other IV as the second one finished up. I then unhooked the other one and sat up. I knew I was disobeying Leo's instructions, but hey, he sometimes always disobeyed mine whenever he got hurt. I got out of bed and slowly made my way out of the room. The lair was dark and quiet, save for the flickering light coming from the TV screens. The screens were just static and the volume was off. A lone figure sat on the couch, staring at the screen.

"Raph?" I whispered.

Raph's body tensed, as if hearing the voice of a ghost. Slowly, he turned to look at me. He looked like he had aged ten years in the short hours I had been unconscious. I walked over to the couch, but I didn't sit down.

"Thanks, Raph."

He turned away. "Why are you thankin' me?" he asked.

"Because I would be dead if it wasn't for you," I pointed out. I tapped my fingers against the back of the couch. "Remember what you promised when we were ten?"

"Hmm?"

"You promised that, no matter what happened, you would always be there to protect me."

Raph hung his head. "But I wasn't, Donny. I couldn't get to ya fast enough before that thug pulled the trigger."

I gently placed my hand over my bandaged shoulder. "You said no matter what happened. Even though I was shot, even though there was a possiblity that I wouldn't make it, you still got me home. So, thanks, Raphie."

A smile played with the corners of Raph's mouth. He ran his hand over his mouth to hide it. I pretended not to notice, he had a tough guy rep to maintain. He acted like he hated the nickname, but deep down we all knew he liked it. I turned to head back to the infirmary when Raph stopped me.

"You know I meant it, right?" he asked.

I looked over my shoulder. "Meant what?"

Raph nodded to my left arm, the one that had been hooked up the IVs. "You were probably still out cold when I said it, so I'll say it again. I'll always be there to protect you, even if I'm not beside you."

He then turned off the TV, casting the room in pitch darkness. He was probably already up the stairs and heading for his room for all I knew. In the darkness, I looked down at my arm. Raph's blood now flowed through my body, ready to fight off whatever parasite lurked in the shadows. I smiled once again. Raph would always be the brother that would always have my back.

* * *

A bit longer than what I had anticipated. But, other than that, let me know what you think. No flames, please.


End file.
